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Saturday, April 14, 2012

April A to Z - M is for magazines part 2 - an interview with Dan Prentice, editor of Trollszines 1-3

I love the Tunnels and Trolls fanbase the RPG's creator, Ken St Andre is very close to his fans, regularly turning up to chat on the message boards of Trollhalla where all kinds of weird and wonderful things go on. Its fanbase is also very dedicated in creating new content and there are a number of Tunnels and Trolls blogs dedicated to the game.

Tunnels and Trolls also has a fan magazine, Trollszine, currently on its fourth issue, available for FREE! from RPGNow (you can get issue 1 here, issue 2 here, issue 3 here and issue 4 here).

The fanzines are chock full of great stuff -solos, advice on how to write solos, new rules, GM adventures and much more.

Today, I am lucky enough to have an interview with Trollszine's editor for issue's 1-3, Dan Prentice.

What was the first gamebook/solo you read (that wasn't your own)? Ken St
Andre’s Naked Doom

What is your favourite gamebook/solo? Walker Vaning’s Sorcerer’sSolitaire is a real favourite. There are so many great ones though.

What gamebooks/solos/interactive fiction would you recommend to a
newcomer to the genre? Sword for Hire is a great first solo to play T&T with. Fun,
well written, and playable with a newly created character. The Lone Wolf Books
are also excellent to introduce someone to the genre itself.

Summarise what a gamebook/solo is to a newcomer in 100 characters or
fewer. A story and a game where you make choices for the principal
character which affect if they live or die and how they prosper. Alternatively,
like a computer RPG , but playable with just pen , paper and dice.

Why are gamebooks/solos great compared to games or books? The best ones
transport you in the way in great book does, but give you choices and agency.
They bear repeated re-reading as you explore different possibilities.

How did you get involved with Trollszine? A thread started on the
Trollbridge about creating an online magazine in the wake of the Shipman
scandal. I had loads of ideas for articles, and Mike Hill, the proposed editor,
encouraged me to take on the job of editor with his support. Kevin Bracey had
said he was prepared to do the formatting of the material and he did a
brilliant job on all three issues we worked on together. Ken St Andre offered
articles and support, and it took off from there.

What is your favourite thing about Trollszine? The fact that
it is still going even though the original editors (myself and Kevin
Bracey) have stepped down due to other commitments. I love that fans of the
worlds greatest RPG are prepared to do so much work for free to share their
ideas and adventures.

What can people submit toTrollszine? Best ask Dan
Hembree (the current editor)! Anything that would be of interest to the T&T
reader I would say – adventures, solo or otherwise, monsters, spells, house
rules, fiction – all of these have found a happy home in Trollszine.

How else can people help out Trollszine? Art and copy editing are both
very much needed by the hard pressed editor in my experience.

When it comes to writing a gamebook/solo, what's the most important
thing that you do? Not a skill of mine. When editing a solo I do a paragraph list and
check that every paragraphs choices lead to a logical outcome , as well as
checking for any typos or rules errors.

What have you got coming up in terms of your
gamebook/solo/competition/Trollszine projects? I have just done the copy
editing for a brilliant solo by W. Scott Grant which I believe will see the
light of day in Trollszine 5. I have also submitted my own article for a post
apocalypse world for T&T which I hope will be published.

What do you think the future of gamebooks/solos is? Ebooks with
tracking of paragraph choices seems the logical next step. I think solos and
gamebooks will be a niche product – they don’t have the in your face
accessibility of video games – but I think they will be around for a long while
yet.